Cruel To Be Kind
by I Have An Alter Ego
Summary: AU. Sasuke didn't leave alone that night when he left. He left with the Rookie 9 except for Haruno Sakura. Now that she's encountering them so many years late, what will happen?


This is a really depressing story, and yeah. The premise of this was that when Sasuke left for the sound, he returned and offered all of the rookie nine a chance to join him, and everyone jumped at the chance besides Sakura. This is a complete story, so please enjoy. And as depressingly boring as it gets, there is a happy ending, no matter how abrupt it is. :'] in fact personally this story is written horribly, but i felt like writing something like this.

* * *

It is their entire fault. If she had never gone on that assassination mission and been so damn compassionate, maybe she would still be in my arms laughing and smiling. I would wake up to her perfect smile and hold her close right now. I wouldn't have to watch her die like she did.

--

A katana sliced through their teammate, and soon the figure behind it was in clear view as the body fell before the figure. He made no sound as the group faced the single man. Anger rose as they looked at their fallen teammate.

"You've made a horrible mistake." A blonde growled as she looked at the man clad in an all black cloak with anger filled eyes. The man made no move; he merely swung his blade in a downward arc to get some of the blood off. Her teammate lay on the floor blood pouring out of his wound. He looked up at his friends with his vision blurring. He could feel the heavy weight of death slowly closing in. The girl bent down and immediately tried to stop the blood floor doing anything she could. She applied pressure, but it was far too late. The blood was coming too fast, and the wound was far too large. She felt for his heartbeat, but nothing came. All color was gone from his face. All signs of life were gone. "You killed him."

"That's the point of a weapon." The man said. His voice was barely audible behind the white mask he wore in the shape of a cat. He said nothing more as he went in to attack the crouching girl, but the blonde haired girl knew better than to just get hit. In a flash of moving blonde hair, the girl had stood up and jumped up into a nearby tree. Her companions all had their weapons at ready as soon as the figure approached. Five of them had launched themselves up into the trees as well. It appeared to be some sort of escape plan. Leave the two strongest to cover their backs while the other six, now five ran back or hid trying to spot this enemies' comrades if any.

"You won't get away with killing Chouji." A boy said as he drew his own katana. The man seemed to chortle as he heard this accusation from a pale complexioned boy. From his stance, he appeared to be the leader of this little troupe of ninja. Immediately the masked man charged and the two clashed. Their speeds were high and if not for the loud sound of metal clanging, most of the ninja would have thought that nothing was happening. At least a cease happened, and the two reappeared. There was a slice in the man's cloak, but the man seemed utterly fine. The boy on the other hand had a small red blotch upon his white kimono top on his left arm. As the two stood facing each other, the boy realized something: he was at least a head taller than this masked man.

The five looked down at their fallen teammate who was being carried by a blonde haired boy away from the battle. They had all determined collectively that this masked man was acting alone under Konoha's orders to eliminate them, and upon returning to the battle, they couldn't help but look at their fallen comrade. It was the first time for death for some of them. It was the first time they had watched a comrade of their own die. It had happened so fast. They were discussing the possibility of returning to Konoha. Almost all of their goals were accomplished, and they felt that it was ready to find someplace they could call home. They felt that they were strong enough that Knonoha wouldn't be able to ignore their talent and as such accept them with punishment. They were all about to concur when suddenly a katana slid down onto Chouji's collarbone. With insane strength, the ANBU slid the katana past his heart and stopped shy of his spine. In that one instant, they all saw the other side of death. They all watched the light fade from his eyes, and the blood seep out from his painful wound. Only one girl was able to wretch herself away and try to stop this death from happening, and she was terrified as it was.

"Why are you attacking us?" Sasuke commanded as he activated his sharinghan. He was preparing to send the man into a genjutsu only to realize that this was not the real man, it was a clone. Worse than this revelation was the silent sound of the man creeping up behind Hinata blade nearing her neck. Just as the blade was about to connect, Shino stood before the girl catching the blade painfully with his hand; in that same instant Hinata slipped out of the tree and ran back to the clearing where Sasuke and the masked man were formerly battling.

"He's over here!" Shino shouted. The masked man slicked through his hand as though it was butter. He shouted in pain and jumped down and ran hoping to lure the man away, but the man merely jumped down out of the trees. Shino clutched what remained of his hand and

"He's going to bleed to death," Hinata said as she activated her Byukagen and saw the blood trail. She looked towards Kiba then Sasuke, before Kiba and Hinata ran off towards Shino's direction. Naruto had returned by this point and looked at his scarce friends. Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, and himself were the only ones in the clearing.

"What happened?" Naruto asked as he looked around for the masked man.

"Shino is trying to lure the masked man away wounded."

"Did it work?" Naruto said as he continued to search for the man with wariful eyes.

"Not really." A new voice said as the man returned to the scene. He seemed to be in the middle of a powerful jutsu in the making which was bad for them. "Done." Suddenly Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru collapsed. "This makes it a whole lot easier."

"Who sent you?"

"I wouldn't ask questions. I'd be more worried for your bug friend. He along with the Hyuuga and the other boy are passed out. He is bleeding quite a bit, and without proper pressure which he had been doing until now, he'll bleed to death."

"If I leave now, you'll kill them."

"What to do?" The man said as he looked up at the sky nonchalantly. "Time's running out for your friend."

"The only way to ensure everyone's safety is to kill you." Sasuke charged towards him. Just as Sasuke was about to cut the man's head off, he ripped off his mask and a wig? Sasuke was dumbstruck as the man turned out to be a woman with vibrant green eyes and long pink hair. He froze as he stared at the girl. She was the only one who dared to stay behind.

"Go save Shino." She said with a sad expression on her face. "I promise I won't hurt them."

"Wake them up if you really want Shino to be saved." Sasuke said as he lowered his sword apprehensively.

"No."

"If you don't, he's going to die along with Chouji. Trust me." In that moment, Sasuke fought against his instincts and went after Shino. When he finally reached there, Shino was barely hanging on. When he returned, Hinata, Kiba, Naruto, Ino, and Shikamaru were all tied together with chakra strings. Sakura was currently making some sort of strange jutsu around the unconscious bodies.

"Sasuke-san-"

"Don't call me Sasuke. Who are you? A murderer of my comrades?" Sasuke exclaimed as he laid Shino down on the ground.

"Uchiha-san, I'm taking them back to Konoha for interrogation."

"We were going to come back on our own."

"I don't give a damn, Uchiha-san." Sakura commanded. Her black cloak was still on. She put on her cat mask not bother to put on the black haired wig. "You can either arrive after I transport us, or come with us. Make a decision."

"Fine." Sasuke set Shino down in the circle and stepped in it. Sakura nodded her head and began to make hand signs. In a flash, they arrived in a dark dungeon cell no windows or doors just lighting and metal all around them. There were four ANBUs at each corner of the room.

"Here they are wrapped up like a Christmas present." Sakura said as she walked through one of the doors as though it were transparent.

"I'm not done with you, yet!" Sasuke yelled as he ran towards the same wall only to run into the harsh metal with no place to go. "What the hell!?" He screamed. He banged on the wall which caused his teammates to suddenly awake.

"Hey Sasuke-teme, can you please shut up I'm trying to sleep.." Naruto mumbled as he blinked again surprised to find out where they were. "Where are we?" He said as he tried to move only to be immobilized by chakra strings on him.

"Sakura captured us."

"Sakura-chan was here? What happened to the masked ANBU guy?"

"That was Sakura."

"No, but that means that-"

"I killed one of your precious comrades." Sakura said as she reappeared in the room once more. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun with a few miscellaneous strands that fell out and with long pink bangs splayed across her forehead, and she was wearing a simple black shirt with a loose maroon vest over it. She wore a gray belt and black jounin pants. She wore a dull expression and yawned as she looked at the lot of them. In her hands was a clipboard and a pen. "First off," She reached over and slapped Sasuke clear across the face much to Naruto's surprise. "So upon listening to your conversations, you were intending to come back to Konoha, yes?" Naruto nodded his head as he looked at the pink haired girl with incredulous eyes. She began to scribble down notes about his answer. She no longer looked like the twelve year old girl they had left behind. She had filled out considerably, but not as much as Ino or Hinata had over the years. She had a slim figure and her muscles were well toned underneath her shirt. She looked more mature too. "To answer your question Uchiha-san, I had to kill Chouji to see whether you really had loyalty to your comrades. By confirming your ties, it is a whole lot easier to interrogate and consider punishments for you." She continued to write on her clipboard.

"But you didn't have to kill him." Naruto pleaded.

"This is the first time, you've seen a comrade die, isn't it?" Sakura said as she stopped scribbling on her clipboard. She looked at him with a sad face. "I remember when I made that face too. It was the first time I realized that there was another side to killing people. You were killing someone's best friend, brother, sister, husband, wife, and now that that special person is gone, you can understand their pain. You should be past this after all you left to become stronger, neh?"

"That's cruel, Sakura-chan."

"Chouji and Shino are dead. My real target was Hyuuga Hinata, but I manage to incapacitate all of you which saved your favorite girl's life. You've got to be cruel to be kind." She turned to the side and walked out of the metal prison once more.

"You're a very self-destructive girl, Sakura." Neji said as he stood outside the cell looking down at the group. "Always helping others without letting them know that you are helping." He grabbed her hand as she tried to escape. Sakura paused and stared at the floor. Silent tears fell to the ground as the pink haired girl bit her lip. "It's okay to cry over a teammate. You did your job well." He said as he squeezed her hand.

"Neji-sama, I missed them so much, yet now that they are here, I want them to go so far away. Am I being too selfish?" Sakura said as the tears continued to fall from her cheeks.

"It's okay to hate them." Neji sighed. Sakura turned around and faced him with tears streaming down her face. She ran into his chest. He awkwardly patted her back.

"You can be mad at me too; because my heart skipped a beat when I looked at him." Sakura said with a light laugh. The two pulled away from their awkward hug. Sakura looked up at Neji and a slight pink blush flew across his cheeks. She got up on her tippy toes and gave Neji a quick peck on the lips. "Promise me that you'll steal me away someday."

--

If she hadn't gone and killed him that day, she'd still be here.

If they hadn't gone and killed her two days later, she'd still be here.

If only they could see what she had done for them sooner than last time.

I refuse to cry or pity myself because she wouldn't want that.

--

Sakura was watching over them with a solemn expression.

"You killed Chouji and Shino." They were all furious with her. They kept on ranting on why she was so horrible to do such a thing. Anything that would make them feel better she was willing to endure.

"You were just jealous that you didn't leave with us, when you had the chance, Sakura!"

"We were going to return in a week back here on our own! Why did you do it?"

"Kakashi once said that someone who doesn't care for their teammate is trash, that's exactly what you. Chouji was once your teammate! You're so cruel!"

"Shino was protecting me! You were trying to kill me! I bet you wish you could do it now! Hit me! Hit me! Do something! Fix everything by dying!"

"I hate you!"

"I hate you!"

"I hate you!" That was all they were saying. They were only saying it in different variations. They all stung, but she never let them know that it hurt. She never let them know that it was all to save their lives. The truth of the matter was that her job was to lure them all to a location near Konoha where they would have been ambushed and killed. It was perfect plan that Sakura had messed up, by killing Chouji and Shino, she was able to shake them up enough to actually capture them. She had saved their lives, but she would never let them know.

"We're already being sentenced to death probably. Why not take Sakura down with us?" Kiba whispered as he glanced at the pink haired girl who was sternly watching over them with a blank expression.

"You don't mean kill Sakura-chan?" Naruto exclaimed loud enough for Sakura to glare at them, but not loud enough for her to hear.

"She killed Chouji and Shino. She's not one of us anymore. No mercy." Ino said with a righteous fury.

"Shino died protecting me. Naruto, she was going to kill me!" Hinata pleaded. It appeared that everyone in their six team renegade squad was up for assassinating Haruno Sakura except for Naruto.

"Sasuke, what do you think?" Naruto said wanting to find a way to avoid this.

"She denied my offer. She is an ally of this village and an enemy. Naruto, we severed ties with Haruno Sakura when she was twelve. She is no longer that twelve year old we knew. She is a nineteen year old ninja who murdered two of our comrades. In any other situation, revenge is our main option." Sasuke hissed.

"If we're going down, we might as well take down all of the rookie nine." Shikamaru said with a sigh. "I can come up with a plan tonight."

"Fine, but I don't agree with this." Naruto said in resignation. The group was soon pushed back into confinement, but they all had dark thoughts dwelling in their heads.

Sakura on the other hand walked to the Hokage's office and was speaking with Tsunade on behalf of them. "You must not execute them. I saw what they can do. They would a terribly great asset especially with all the people we lost in Pein's attack. They are very loyal and over time, they could become the hero's of Konoha. Naruto has always wanted to be Hokage." Sakura pleaded. "While they might hate me with all their might, please I beg of you."

"Sakura, you are being unreasonable."

"No, I'm not! Trust me."

"Fine, they will not receive the death penalty. But if they mess up just once, they are gone."

"Thank you so much!"

"You must be their guardian angel."

"To them, I must be their personal devil. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they were the ones to kill me someday."

"Why is that?"

"Revenge is the only thing that Sasuke has been filling in their heads, and after I killed their comrades, I wouldn't be surprised if in two years they start a death plan for me." Tsunade and Sakura laughed unknowing of how true Sakura's statement was. For on that very night, all six of them were devising a way to kill Haruno Sakura in the most painful yet least noticeable way. Sakura went home to her and Neji's shared apartment. She cooked dinner for him and whistled the whole time. Neji came just as she finished.

"You're in a good mood. Quite a difference from yesterday." He commented.

"Well, something good happened. I convinced them that there would be no death penalty." Sakura smiled.

"Mercy isn't a good ninja attribute." Neji rolled his eyes.

"You know in a couple years, I think I might be ready to give up being a good ninja." Sakura said as she put the food down at their table and began to dig into her food.

"What do you mean?" Neji asked as he took a bite of the food.

"I might want to stop going on missions while I'm planning my wedding day. Duh!"

"Wait, does this mean-" Neji looked incredulous. The two of them had been together since she as fifteen, and the two were so happy together than he had proposed to Sakura when they were eighteen last year. Sakura had rejected him and decided to work on her ninja career for a bit.  
"If your offer still holds from last year, will you marry me, Neji?" Sakura smiled brightly. Neji rolled his eyes.

"I'm supposed to be doing that." He frowned but couldn't hold it as the happiness filled him. "Hold on a second," He walked to their bedroom and opened up the side drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a small velvet box. He returned holding it behind his back.

"Are you serious?" Sakura turned a light shade of red as Neji bent down before her again. He grabbed her hand and looked up at her.

"I have to do this properly you know? Haruno Sakura, will you marry me?"

"Yes." She laughed and smiled as Neji slipped the ring onto her ring finger on her left hand. The two had a splendid night not knowing what would soon unfold.

--

We never got to have a wedding, but I'm sure that I'll put on her grave, 'beloved wife.'

Even though she was gone, I'm happy that that night was our last one together. I'm happy that she finally accepted my marriage proposal. I love her so much.

I can't believe that she trusted them so blindly.

--

Sakura arrived at her work and waited for the six prisoners to have their daily minutes of fresh air. She stood there in the garden. Yesterday they were in a park, today they were in a small koi fish pond with a peaceful aura. The pond was originally an onsen and was surprisingly deep, and if they wanted to, they could swim with the fish. It was supposed to calm them a little and make them want to talk to the interrogaters.

"Sakura-chan, I'm sorry." Sakura looked at Naruto surprised as suddenly he grabbed and dragged her towards the pond.

"What are you doing?" She said with worry. She could stop them and call for help; but that would mean a strike against them and as such, they would all get a death sentence. "You can't be doing this." She whispered.

"You killed Chouji and Shino. You shouldn't have done that." Naruto said as the group slowly encroached towards her. Hinata and Ino were soon holding her arms down while Naruto held onto her shoulders from behind trying to keep her from struggling.

"Not after all I've done!" Sakura whispered. She suddenly closed her eyes and poofed away. She stood at the other side of the pond. Quickly she opened up a scroll that appeared to be previously prepared. 'I didn't think that it would happen this quickly, I'm sorry Neji-sama.' She held back her tears as a small slug appeared and swallowed the scroll. 'It would soon arrive at Tsunade-shishou's office.' Just as Sasuke was about to grab her, Sakura jumped into the koi fish pond. Sasuke looked confused. He was going to wait for her to come up for air. They all gathered around waiting for her to return, but to their surprise, the pink haired girl was looking up at them smiling while sinking lower and lower into the waters.

"Why did she do that?" Sasuke pondered as the girl would run out of air soon.

"Maybe she felt bad, and finally commited suicide." Ino said with a sneer. She obviously didn't care if her former best friend died.

Sakura looked up through the water. All of her former friend's faces were blurry as she glanced up at them. She smiled peacefully knowing that they would one day benefit from this and hopefully forgive her. Her lungs burned for air, and finally she opened up her mouth to breath in the air and breathed in nothing but water. Her body wanted to go back up for air, but she merely closed her eyes and sunk as she breathed in more water and more until the world was very heavy. She didn't see her life flash before her eyes, she saw a picture. It was of herself and Neji with a tiny baby in their arms. Next to her was Kakashi and Naruto and Sasuke. It was the dream that she had wanted, but could never have. At last, things started to fade, and the heavy weight of death fell upon her body. Haruno Sakura died by committing suicide in a koi fish pond. It was a very beautiful death that the people she saved would not understand until the next day.

--

I was alerted first. They were deciding who would go on in after her. I immediately dove into the pool and pulled up my pink haired fiancee's lifeless body. I held her in my arms for a while. Somehow I thought that she would suddenly open her eyes and reveal her beautiful green eyes full of life. Somehow I thought she would suddenly open her lips and tell me she loved me one last time. Somehow I thought she was suddenly come back to life and tell me that everything was okay. The next morning I was called in by the Hokage.

--

"As you know, Haruno Sakura has been killed." Tsunade said. Her eyes looked bloodshot and puffy, and her breath stunk of alcohol. It appears that Neji wasn't the only one grieving over the fallen girl. "Right before her death, she sent me this letter. I think that you should read it first."

_"Tsuande-shishou,, if you are receiving this letter, I died. My former teammates probably went psycho and attempted to kill me. I probably killed myself before they could do it. They are merely emotional and do not understand what has been going on. I refuse to tell them all that I have done for them, because I doubt that they would believe me anyways. I write this the very night after they arrived. I am not sure when I will die, but I am sure that they are the ones who attempted to do it. Please don't blame them. Please, please, please. If you do, my death will have been in vain, and I will even worse than I feel now. I just couldn't bear to kill them. I've failed you as a student Tsunade-shishou. I'm sorry for that. Pleaes give this notes to each of the people I've specified. You do can whatever you want with all my money and whatever I have, they all belong to Neji anyway. I know I won't have my name on the hero's memorial, but I will appreciate if you classify this as a homicide. I don't want my name to be ruined. I love you dearly, teacher._

_-Your Student, Sakura_

_Neji, I just want to tell you how much I love you. You are my everything, and I'm so sorry for leaving you behind. Please be happy. Go fall in love again, forget me, that's all I ask of you. I love you enough that I know that I need you to let me go (besides Hiashi never liked me all that much to begin with). I want you to live and be happy. I'll be watching from up above, so you better do as I say!_

_I really wish I could have been the wife you deserved and the mother of your children, but I guess some other lucky girl will get that job. I'll always love you, Neij._

_Love, Sakura_

_To the traitors I couldn't kill, I hope you're happy since you chose that fate. I hope it brought you bliss. I really hope you accomplished everything you wanted. I hope you're happy in the end, my friends. Otherwise, I'll haunt the hell out of you. I'll never tell you why I did what I did, and I don't think you'll ever deserve to know the answer, but I just couldn't bear to let you go. Please don't hate me forever. _

_Thanks, -Sakura"_

A single tear fell down his cheek as I read the note. Tsunade had disobeyed Sakura's wishes and told the traitors everything out of anger. Naruto has tried to commit suicide four times now. Sasuke has tried two times. The two of them took it the hardest. The four remaining traitors all remain silent, and haven't spoken a word since.

I stayed home that whole day. I only thought of Sakura's note. She wanted to be a mother and have children. Every dream that we had wanted was stripped away from us. I hate them so much. I want to kill them all. That night I went to sleep and dreamt of her. She was wearing all white and had two pure white wings on her back. She was looking down at me holding her dead body. She merely sighed and watched as each person looked at her death. While I was reading the note, she was watching me with a sad expression. She appeared to try and make me smile, but her hands merely passed through me. She looked astonished. My day progressed, and she followed me all the way. In fact, in my dream she lying on the bed next to me watching me sleep. She placed her hand on my cheek and sighed.

"Neji, some day when some girl comes by and you immediately fall in love and marry her and have kids, you're going to realize that no one loves you more than I did and no one ever will. But some day when you're old and gray and can barely move, we'll meet again, and we'll be together with the child that you didn't get to meet. I haven't named her yet, because I don't know what you'd like." Sakura smiled and caressed my cheek once more, before I opened my eyes, and she was gone. I could still feel the warm spot on my cheek where she was touching me in the dream. If this was true, then perhaps she was pregnant when she died. I ran towards the Hokage's office.

"Have you done an autotopsy on Sakura yet?"

"No, why?" Tsunade looked surprised by his early visit.

"I think she was pregnant."

"No." Tsunade exclaimed. We waited a good hour for the results. It turns out that Sakura was pregnant. She was into a month of pregnancy when she died, and neither of us had any idea.

I looked up at the sky and smiled sadly. "I like the name Hanako."

'Really, cause I hate it. We're naming her Haru.' I could almost hear her say as she played with our little child in heaven. 'Hyuuga Haru. You are the prettiest baby I've ever seen! I wish you could see her. Her eyes are indescribable and her hair is this burgundy color that is so gorgeous. We would have had such a beautiful baby. We'll watch over you. Now move on with your life.'

"So do you want a separate grave next to Sakura's with the name Haruno Hanako?" Tsuande asked slightly confused.

"No, that won't do. I want a grave that says, Hyuga Sakura and one next to it t osay Hyuga Haru."

"Most people don't want to name their unborn children. It hurts too much. You're a strong man, Hyuga Neji."

"I have to be, Sakura was my wife. Sadly enough on the day of her death, I was filling out our marriage liscence, we had already filled everything out before and now it was official. I was married to Sakura just before she died." Neji sighed.

"Thank you for making her happy." Tsunade said with a sigh.

--

Four years have passed since that day, and I still love Sakura with all my heart. I've been looking for someone new, but no one can match Sakura. I was distracted that I got hit in the neck by a kunai. It hit my spinal cord in just the right place and was an instant kill. I now stand over my fallen body watching my teammates fight while I am helpless. I wonder if this is what Sakura felt watching over her dead body.

"I'm quite mad at you, Hyuuga Neji." My whole body froze as I heard that voice for the first time in four years. I turned around and there she was standing there not a day older since the day she had died. Tears were brimming at the corners of her eyes. "You were supposed to die when you were old and withered." A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. I wanted to say everything I'd felt, but I didn't. I just hugged her and felt her touch for the first time in four years. It felt perfect.

"Momma, who is he?" A new voice said. Her voice was soft and innocent. I turned to face a small girl about four years old.

"Haru?"

* * *

End of suckish story. :] I hope you had fun on this little ride. The name Haru was a random whim. The ending is abrupt. It's really lame. and I don't do action scenes. Flames are welcomed with wide arms and an open heart! This was rushed and used for me to get the creative juices flowing because I'm pretty tapped out of creativity. :3 I'll eventually update my other stories... in two years. :3


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